2 0 1 7 A N N U A L R E P O R T 39 PIPELINE PROGRAM CONTINUES TO GROW When the CollegeofMedicine’s best-known pipeline program, SSTRIDE, was brought to Collier County in September 2016, the plan was to induct 15 eighth-grade students into its first class. When the program received more than 90 applications, that plan changed. With the support of a five-year, $500,000 commitment from the Naples Children and Education Foundation, the program was able to induct 55 students, 40 of whom are Hispanic or Latino. Those students wrapped up a busy first year in the program in 2017. “The applicants were so amazing that we actually ended up starting the program in eighth, ninth and 10th grade, which wasn’t supposed to happen until Year Three,” said Jodi Truel, SSTRIDE’s southern region program director. SSTRIDE (Science Students Together Reaching Instructional Diversity and Excellence) dates back to 1994 and has worked to identify underserved, high-achieving students who have a genuine interest in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, math or medicine. The program provides students with the education, experiential activities and support they need to succeed. “In each lesson, there’s some kind of medical approach incorporated, whether it be a lab, activity, field trip or guest speaker,” Truel said, noting the curriculum involves a progression of upper-level science courses, each with an honors designation. Included are interactive lectures, handson labs, mentor-facilitated groups and other activities. “We do dissections in every grade level,” added Truel. “Eighthgraders are dissecting a pig, and they think it’s amazing getting to do this so much sooner than their friends or other students.” During a visit to the von Arx Wildlife Hospital at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, students worked with biologists to do a python necropsy, similar to an autopsy. “They examined its internal organs, did the paperwork the biologists have to do and learned how the pythons’ lungs work, and how they eat their prey,” she said. But one-on-one interaction with current med students and other mentors might be where Collier County SSTRIDE students have benefited most, according to Truel. Some of the mentors are from Immokalee, and at least one of them is currently in the CollegeofMedicine’s family medicine residency program in Fort Myers. “Because the great majority of these students are going to be first-generation college students, it’s really important for them to see people from their own community actually doing these things and succeeding,” Truel said. As its reputation spreads, more communities across Florida have become interested in SSTRIDE. “Students from rural, underserved and minority communities are more likely to return to practice or work in their own communities, so it is very important and necessary to have these programs to better prepare students and expose them to post secondary education” said Thesla Berne- Anderson, director of college and pre-college outreach at the CollegeofMedicine. A private gift brought SSTRIDE to Sarasota County in 2017 (read about it on page 50). The new students attended a mini-camp at Sarasota High School, where they learned how to scrub in for surgery, the basics of CPR, and how to draw blood and administer an IV. Within the first few months, the students were also visited by guest speaker Brad Prechtl, CEO ofFlorida Cancer Specialists, and the Humane Society of Sarasota County to learn about veterinary medicine, non profit organizations and volunteer work. “Our programs in the southern region are moving leaps and bounds. They have funding that we don’t have, so their students can really take advantage of every aspect of SSTRIDE,” said Berne-Anderson. “Every aspect we said should be included in the model, they do it.”